Ammunition booster



Feb. 18, 1958 w. A. WEBB ET AL 2,823,588

AMMUNITION BOOSTER Filed April 6, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 gfgww WILLIAM. A.WEBB m w n. .0 m A WILLIAM.BHIPSLEY INVENTORS BYQM ATTORNEY Feb. 18, 1958 WILLIAM A.WEBB

WILLIAMB HIPSLEY INVENTOR. %M' ATTORNEY AMMUNITION BOOSTER William A. Webb and William B. I-Iipsley, Towson, Md.

Application April 6, 1955, Serial No. 499,704

Claims. (Cl. 89-33) This invention relates to ammunition boosters of the type used to assist in feeding link belt ammunition to a machine gun. Such boosters find wide use in armed vehicles and in aircraft, especially where the ammunition storage is located at a distance from the gun.

In order to provide a booster which is adaptable to a wide variety of installation .in various types of vehicles, it is desirable that the booster be capable of left or right hand installation, and that it be easily adapted for use with dilferent sizes of ammunition. It is also generally necessary to provide means for preventing the weight of the ammunition belt from causing retrograde motion of the booster when no power is being applied to the booster motor.

Since, when using a booster, a power failure will render theammunition feed system inoperative, it is especially desirable to provide manual means for feeding the ammunition should a power failure occur. It is also desirable that the booster provide selective means for allowing free roll-back movement if desired, in order to facilitate removal of a partially used belt of ammunition and to aid in loading and in clearing jams.

Although many types of boosters have been utilized in ammunition feed systems prior hereto, none has incorporated all of the above related features in a single design.

The present invention provides a simple and unique booster design incorporating a manual override system which allows manual advance of the ammunition belt when the booster motor is inoperative and which includes means for allowing free rotation of the booster in either direction when such movement is desired to aid in loading or unloading the gun, while at the same time retaining an anti-roll back feature to prevent retrograde motion of the ammunition belt when the booster is not being operated.

To provide such features in a compact configuration, the booster herein contemplated comprises a motor enclosed in a cylindrical housing which is free to rotate with respect to the motor and which incorporates a ring gear which is part of a planetary system driven by the motor. A second ring gear rotatable relative to the first is fixed to a manually operable crank which is adapted to be locked against rotation with respect to the structure in which the booster is carried. A suitable clutch is provided on the motor shaft to allow rotation of the shaft only in the direction to advance the ammunition to the gun.

As will be more fully described hereinafter in the specification, the planet gear arrangement connecting the motor shaft to the above mentioned ring gears is such that with the manual crank locked against rotation, operation of the booster motor will rotate the cylindrical housing to advance the ammunition belt, and when the motor is inoperative, the'crank may be unlocked from the structure and rotation thereof will be effective to rotate the housing in either direction.

To allow the booster to be adapted for usewith various sizes of ammunition the usual sprockets used to ,three pairs of coaxial planet gears.

.11 engages the planetgearsll, l2 and 13.

2,823,588 Patented Feb. 18, 1958 2 engage the ammunition have been incorporated integrally with an. outer removable cylinder which is held in place by a simple snapring arrangement. Thus, to make the booster suitable for use with a different size of ammunition, it is necessary only to remove the snap ring and substitute a new cylinder having the desired size sprockets.

It is the object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a new and improved ammunition booster incorporating a novel manual override arrangement for manually advancing the ammunition belt.

It is another object of the invention to provide an ammunition booster having a light and simple construction which is suitable for either right or left hand installation.

It is a further object of thisinvention to provide an ammunition booster adaptable to be used with a variety of sizes of ammunition.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide an ammunition booster having anti-rollback characteristics and incorporating a button release to allow freewheeling of the booster.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a sectional view showing the internal arrangement of a booster constructed in accordance with this invention. For clarity in presentation, only the lowerrnost set of planet gears has been shown in the view.

Figure 2 is a partial sectional view showing an alternative arrangement incorporating a rollback release button instead of a manual crank as shown on Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 of Figure 1.

As shown in Figure 1, the booster comprises a cylindrical housing 1 upon which is carried a sprocket sleeve Zhaving formed thereon sprocket teeth 3 for engaging the cartridges in a cartridge belt. Sprocket sleeve 2 is held in place by snap ring 4 which may be easily removed to allow the sleeve 2 to be replaced with a sleeve having sprocket teeth suitable for handling a different size of ammunition. A drive motor 5 within the housing 1 is supported at one end by a ring shaped support member 6 which is fastened to suitable supporting structure 7 and screws 8.

The motor shaft 9 carries a drive pinion it) which engages planet gears 11, 12 and 13 as best shown in Figure 3. A second set of .planet gears 15,16 and 17 are formed integrally with gears 11, 12 and 13 respectively, forming The three pairs of gears are mounted for rotation in spider 14, which, in turn, is free to rotate with respect to the motorS and the other booster structure. A one-way clutch 33 interposed between the housing of the motor 5 and the shaft 9 prevents reverse rotation of the shaft when the motor is not energized.

Ring gear 18 formed on the inner periphery of housing A second ring gear 19 formed. integrally with co-axial shaft 20 engages the remaining set of planet gears 15, 16 and 17. A shaft 21 carried for rotation within the sleeve 22 is fastened to shaft 20 by means of pin 23. Sleeve 33 threadedly engages the supporting member 24 which is attached to the supportingstructure 7 by means of screws 8. A crank 2-5 is fastened to the end of shaft 22 by means of pin 26 so that rotation of the crank will rotate ring gear 19. A pin 27 carried in crank handle 28 normally engages a suitable hole or detent in supporting structure 7 toprevent rotation of the crank 25 and consequently, ring' gear 19. Knurled knob 29 is provided on pin 27 to facilitate release of pin 27 when it is desired to manually rotate crank 25. Ball bearings 30, 31 and 32 areinterposed between the inner booster structure and the housing 1 to allow rotation of the housing.

In normal operation the pin 27 in the crank handle 28 engages the structure 7 to prevent rotation of the crank 25. When motor 5 is energized, shaft 9 rotates pinion 10 which is in engagement with planet gears 11, 12 and 13, causing simultaneous rotation of gears 15, 16 and'17. Since ring gear 19 is prevented from rotating, being fixed, through shaft 21, to-the crank 25, gears 15, 16 and 17 will roll on the inner periphery of ring gear 19 so that the pairs of spider gears and the spider 14 are caused to rotate about the motor-shaft 9 i in the same direction as the shaft but at a lower rate governed by the gear ratio between the pinion 10, the planet gear pairs and the ring gear 19. Ring gear 18,

being in engagement with planet gears 11, 12 and 13,

is consequently caused to rotate in the opposite direc tion from the spider 14 and the planet gear pairs, so that housing 1 and sprocket sleeve 2 are rotated in the opposite direction from motor shaft 9.

When motor 5 is stopped, any force exerted by the weight of the ammunition belt on sprocket 3 tending to rotate the sprocket in the reverse direction will tend to roll planet gears 15, 16 and 17 on the inner periphery of ring gear 19, turning gears 11, 12 and 13 in a direction tending to rotate pinion 10 against the action of oneway clutch 33, so that reverse rotation of the booster is prevented.

Since shaft 9 is prevented from rotating in the reverse direction by clutch 33, rotation of ring gear 19 will be effective to cause the planet gears to roll around pinion 10, thus rotating housing .1 in the same direction as the rotation of pinion 19 and crank 25.

For manual operation when the motor is inoperative, the pin 27 is released from the structure 7 to allow crank 25 to be turned by hand. Rotation of the crank in the forward direction causes rotation of ring gear 19, and since rotation of pinion 10 in the same direction is prevented by one-way clutch 33, planet gears 11, 12 and 13 revolve around the pinion, causing rotation of ring gear 18 in the direction of operation of the crank.

Rotation of crank 25 in the reverse direction will reverse the action above described, so that the resultant force on pinion 10 will tend to rotate the pinion in the drive direction. However, because of the high gear ratio through the gear train from the pinion to ring gear 19, the friction inherent in the motor shaft bearings is sufficient to prevent rotation of the shaft unless the turning force applied to the crank is extremely high. Thus, reverse rotation of the crank is effective to cause reverse rotation of the sprocket 2 under all normal conditions of operation.

An alternate arrangement for an installation in which manual crank is not required is depicted in Figure 2. In the compact configuration shown, a button 34 has been substituted for the crank arrangement. A transverse pin 35, abutting the underside of button 34, passes through a slot 36 in the shaft 20 which is integral with ring gear 19. A spring 37 is contained within an axial hole 38 formed in the shaft 20 and acts against pin 35 to urge button 34 outwardly. Detents 39 are provided in booster support member 40 to prevent rotation of pin 35, thereby locking pinion 19 with respect to the supporting structure. Elongated slot 36 allows button 34 to be depressed against the action of spring 37 to release pin 35 from detents' 39 so that ring gear 19 is free to rotate. maining portion of the booster is identical with the crank type booster shown in Figure 1.

As is obvous from the above description of the crank type booster, operation of the motor when the button 34 is in the position shown in Figure 2, will cause forward rotation of the sprocket 2 since the ring gear 19 is prevented from turning by the pin 35 which is engaged by the detents 39. Reverse rotation of the booster is prevented by the action of one-way clutch 33. When the button 34 is depressed, releasing pin 35 from the detents 39 the booster is free to rotate in either direc- The structural arrangement of the retion since ring gear 19 is then free to rotate with respect to the fixed structure.

The unique arrangement of a planetary gear system in an ammunition booster as above described, provides a booster which will prevent roll-back of the ammunition belt when the booster motor is inoperative, while allowing disengagement of the anti -roll-back means when free retrograde motion of the booster is desired. Because of the gearing arrangement, the proposed booster offers little resistance to retrograde rotation, thus overcoming a disadvantage inherent in prior booster configurations. In addition, the manual crank arrangement provides a booster which will allow manual operation in the case of power failure, so that damage to the power system will not render the gun inoperative. This last feature is especially desirable in order to prevent minor damage from rendering a combat vehicle ineffective.

Although but one embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described, it is to be understood that many-modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1'.An ammunition booster for driving an ammunition belt comprising, a motor having a rotating shaft, clutch means interposed between said motor and said shaft to allow rotation of said shaft in one direction only, a pinion attached to said shaft, a drive sprocket carried for rotation with respect to said motor, a ring gear carried by said sprocket, a first planet gear interposed between said pinion and said ring gear, a second planet gear coaxial .with and fixed to said first plane-t gear, a second ring gear engaging said second planet gear, and means for selectively allowing or preventing rotation of said second ring gear in either direction with respect to said motor.

2. An ammunition booster for driving an ammunition belt comprising, a motor having a rotating shaft, clutch means interposed between said motor and said shaft to allow rotation of said shaft in one direction only, a drive sprocket carried for rotation with respect to said motor, planetary gear means interconnecting said shaft and said sprocket, said planetary gear means including a first planet gear, a second planet gear coaxial with and fixed to said first planet gear, a first ring gear carried by said sprocket and engaging said first planet gear and a second ring gear engaging said second planet gear, and means for selectively rendering said second ring gear non-rotative with respect to said motor or allowing said .ring gear to rotate in either direction with respect to said motor.

3. An ammunition booster comprising a drive motor,

. an outer housing, and a planetary gear system intercondirection, sprocket means carried by said motor for coaxial rotation with respect thereto, planetary gear means interconnecting said motor and said sprocket means, said planetary gear means including a pinion driven by said motor, a first ring gear carried by said sprocket means, a second ring gear, planet gear means driven by said pinion and engaging said first and said second ring gears, and latch means for selectively locking said second ring gear against rotation or allowing rotation of said second ring gear in either direction.

5. An ammunition booster comprising, a drive motor, clutch means carried by said motor to prevent rotation t fireof in one direction, sprocket means carried by said motor for coaxial rotation with respect thereto, planetary gear means including a pinion driven by said motor, a first ring gear carried by said sprocket means, a second ring gear, planet gear means driven by said pinion and engaging said first and said second ring gears, crank means carried by said second ring gear for manual rotation thereof, and latch means for securing said crank and said second ring gear against rotation.

6. An ammunition booster comprising a drive motor having a rotating shaft, clutch means for preventing rotation of said shaft in one direction, a cylindrical housing enclosing said motor and carried coaxially therewith, said housing being journalled on said motor for rotation relative thereto, an interchangeable sleeve having ammunition engaging sprocket means formed thereon and carried by said housing coaxially therewith, a drive pinion carried by said shaft, a first ring gear carried by said housing coaxially with said pinion, aplurality of planet gears each engaging said pinion and said ring gear, each of said planet gears having a second coaxial gear of smaller diameter fixed thereto, a second ring gear carried coaxially with said first ring gear and engaging each said gear of smaller diameter, crank means fixed to said second ring gear for manual rotation thereof in either direction, and latch means for preventing rotation of said crank means.

7. An ammunition booster comprising a drive motor having a rotating shaft, clutch means for preventing rotation of said shaft in one direction, a cylindrical housing enclosing said motor and carried coaxially therewith, bearing means interposed between said housing and said motor to allow axial rotation of said housing with respect to said motor, a removable sleeve carried by said housing and having ammunition engaging sprocket means formed thereon, said sleeve being interchangeable with other sleeves arranged to engage diflerent sizes of ammunition, planetary gear means interposed between said shaft and said housing comprising, a drive pinion carried by said shaft, a first ring gear carried by said housing, a plurality of planet gears interposed between said pinion and said first ring gear, a second planet gear of smaller diameter than the first said planet gears carried coaxially with and fixed to each of said plurality of planet gears, a second ring gear coaxial with the first said ring gear and engaging each said second planet gear, and latch means for locking said second ring gear against rotation whereby rotation of said drive shaft will be effective to rotate said sprocket means when said ring gear is locked against rotation, said sprocket means being free to rotate in either direction when said ring gear is unlocked.

8. An ammunition booster arranged to prevent retrograde motion of an ammunition belt when the booster is inoperative and including manual means for rotating the booster in either direction comprising, a cylindrical housing enclosing a drive unit, bearing means interposed between said drive unit and said housing to allow rotation therebetween, first ring gear means carried by said housing, second ring gear means coaxial with said first ring gear means and journalled for rotation with respect there to, planet gear means interconnecting said drive unit and both said ring gear means, means for selectively preventing rotation of said second ring gear means or allowing rotation thereof in either direction, and clutch means engaging said shaft to prevent reverse rotation thereof when said drive unit is inoperative.

9. An ammunition booster arranged to prevent retrograde motion of an ammunition belt when the booster is inoperative and including manual means for rotating said booster in either direction comprising, a drive motor having a rotating shaft, a cylindrical housing enclosing said motor, bearing means interposed between said motor and said housing to allow rotation of said housing with respect to said motor, a sleeve forming a drive sprocket removably mounted on said housing, a pinion carried by said shaft, a ring gear carried by said housing and coaxial with said pinion, a plurality of planet gears interposed between said pinion and said ring gear, a second plurality of planet gears coaxially fixed one to each of the first said planet gears, a second ring gear journalled for coaxial rotation with respect to the first said ring gear and engaging said second planet gears, latch means normally preventing rotation of said second ring gear, and spring opposed button means for releasing said latch means to allow rotation of said second ring gear in either direction.

10. An ammunition booster arranged to prevent retrograde motion of an ammunition belt when the booster is inoperative and including manual means for rotating said booster in either direction comprising, a drive motor having a rotating shaft, a cylindrical housing enclosing said motor, bearing means interposed between said motor and said housing to allow rotation therebetween, a sleeve forming a drive sprocket removably mounted on said housing, a pinion carried by said shaft, a ring gear carried by said housing and coaxial with said pinion, a plurality of planet gears interposed between said pinion and said ring gear, a second plurality of planet gears coaxially fixed one to each of the first said planet gears, a second ring gear journalled for coaxial rotation with respect to the first said ring gear and engaging said second planet gears, a crank fixed to said second ring gear to allow manual rotation thereof, latch means for selectively preventing rotation of said crank so that operation of said motor is effective to rotate said drive sprocket, and clutch means engaging said shaft to prevent reverse rotation thereof so that reverse rotation of said sprocket is prevented when said motor is inoperative.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,403,170 Chapman et al. July 2, 1946 2,617,330 Pataki Nov. 11, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 670,817 France Aug. 4, 1929 671,599 Great Britain May 7, 1952 

